Neck Pain & Disability among School Teachers and its Association with Gender, Body Mass Index, Classes per Week and Method of Lecture Delivery

Abstract

Abstract Purpose Neck pain is common among school teachers due to regular involvement in teaching activities. The purpose of this study was to determine the neck Pain & disability among school teachers and its association with gender, body mass index, classes per week and method of lecture delivery. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted in Peshawar Pakistan from August 2017 to February 2018. A self administered questionnaire was used to collect demographic and teaching related information while Neck Disability Index (NDI) was used to assess neck disability. School teachers having at least 1 year teaching experience were included in the study. Teachers involved in administrative activities and/or having any systemic disease or co-morbidity were excluded. SPSS version 20 was used to analyze the data. Results Mean age of the participants was 31.99±6.93. There were 110 (39.6%) male and 168 (60.4%) female participants. Out of total participants, 99(35.6%) teachers reported that they had neck pain. Majority (n=188, 67.6%) of participants had no neck pain related disability while 63 (22.7%) had mild, 22 (7.9%) had moderate and 5 (1.8%) had severe disability. None of the participants had complete disability. Female gender was significantly associated (P-value<0.05) with neck pain and disability. Conclusion Prevalence of neck pain is high among school teachers. Female teachers and those who take more than 10 classes per week are more prone to developing neck pain.